Contemporary virtuoso pianist, collaborator, composer, arranger, producer, educator; multiple Grammy nominee and 2010 Grammy winner Laurence Hobgood has enjoyed a multi-faceted and dynamic career.

Slowing Down: Key Steps Toward Expanding Musical Consciousness – 2 hours – 2pm to 4pm

The desire for something to sound good quickly is usually not in our best interest. The fact is that the way our “ego” wants to learn is very different from the way our brain wants to learn. The term “ego” is used literally here, so not in reference to “egotism”; simply the self in the sense of how we usually relate to the world around us — hence the understandable desire for a given musical idea to sound good (or effective or pleasing, etc.) right away.

But for improvement to occur (this is true of any complex mental activity) the brain needs to be “programmed” (like a computer); by systematically introducing — or “encoding” — new information and allowing the brain to process/digest that information, we create a method for building our abilities organically. This requires that we slow down our process; the result seems less immediately gratifying but leads to actual improvement — which becomes our new source of gratification!

This workshop introduces this concept more thoroughly, then solidifies it through practical examples and exercises. (It should be noted that this concept affects all other areas of musical inquiry.

Open to Instrumentalists and Singers.

See below to book your tickets today.

Jazz